Special rights for religion (RFRA & RLUIPA)

In 2009, the County of Boulder, Colorado, which has a long history of careful land use planning designed to balance the needs of its citizens while preserving open space, lost its legal fight against a RLUIPA claim that a sixth expansion of a church could not be limited by local land use provisions.   The result of this litigation, and many others, demonstrates that RLUIPA privileges religion by providing a near universal exemption to the enforcement of any land use regulations in the face of a religious organization's challenge.

RFRA and RLUIPA privilege certain religious sects over the rest of society.

By declaring that any law which infringes on a religious practice has the presumption of being invalid, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) unfairly privilege certain religious sects over the rest of society. These laws will riddle our legal code with exemptions for specific religious sects, while leaving other religious groups and the nonreligious in a state of second-class citizenship.

RFRA and RLUIPA are unfair to all Americans.

From endangering the character of neighborhoods to the sacramental use of illegal drugs, RFRA and RLUIPA exemptions are unfair to all Americans. Among other privileges, RLUIPA allows religious groups to disregard local residential zoning codes to build wherever and whatever they desire. RFRA allows specific religious sects to challenge any federal law, from the use of illegal drugs to hunting endangered species, simply by invoking a claim of religious freedom.

RFRA and RLUIPA violate the Constitution.

This favoritism of certain religious sects over other religious groups and the nonreligious violates the Constitution's neutrality with regard to religion as contained in the First Amendment. These acts effectively allow Free Exercise claims to trump the rights protected in the Establishment Clause.

RFRA and RLUIPA breach the separation of powers.

These acts contravene the foundation of our separation of powers in our federal system by allowing the legislative branch to interpret the Constitution, a function that rightly belongs to an independent judiciary. These acts also inappropriately impose federal authority on purely local issues.

RFRA and RLUIPA must be revised.

Equality is an abiding American value, and it calls out for revision of these unjust laws.

For more detail, see our position paper.